Southampton centre-back Jose Fonte yesterday revealed that he will not be offered a new contract at the St Mary’s club. United fans took to Twitter to suggest that the Red Devils make a move for him in the upcoming January transfer window – but I do not think this is the club’s best option.
Jose Fonte is a 32 (soon to be 33) year-old who failed to make his mark at Benfica and impressed most at Crystal Palace on his long, seven-club path to Southampton.
Named Saints’ Player of the Year when the club achieved promotion to League One in 2010-11, it cannot be denied that he has made a phenomenal rise from League One to the European Championships, but it is this very rise which concerns me.
Fonte was most comfortable when playing in League One and the Championship when the Saints achieved back-to-back promotions to reach the Premier League.
Those years were during his twenties – and with age tends to come a drop in pace. Approaching his mid-thirties, the Portuguese defender is not the athlete he once was.
I asked Southampton fans what they think of their captain. Luke Osman, co-editor of Read Southampton and avid fan of the club, had this to say:
Twitter: @JamesBrowning96 He’s a leader, he’s good on the ball and he’s very good positionally. He’s slow, he’s aging and he’s a bit reckless. (@LukeOsmanRS)
This brings me to my next point – why would Southampton refuse to offer their captain a contract, if he’s good enough for Manchester United? If Jose Fonte is supposedly good enough to play alongside the likes of Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and David de Gea – in a side rebuilding for Premier League and Champions League glory – why don’t Southampton want to keep him?
It’s simple. Jose Fonte is not good enough to play for Manchester United. You can argue that he was good enough to play for Portugal at Euro 2016, but who were the alternatives? Pepe was a guaranteed starter, so the list of potential partners includes:
- Jose Fonte
- Ricardo Carvalho
- Daniel Carrico
- Paulo Oliveira
- Bruno Alves
- Ruben Semedo
- Ricardo Costa
- Ruben Vezo
That doesn’t exactly set the world alight, does it?
Instead of a ‘cheap’ move for Fonte, who despite not having been offered a new contract, is still playing 90 minutes in every game for Southampton, Manchester United should go all-out to sign Atletico Madrid centre-back Jose Maria Gimenez.
Gimenez is just 21 years old but is already a formidable centre-back. The Uruguay international is a strong, relatively quick defender who loves to play the ball out of defence. He is part of an unforgiving Simeone back line who are very well accomplished in keeping clean sheets, and has had the blessing of playing alongside Diego Godin, which will certainly have helped in his development so far.
In Gimenez’s last eight games for club and country, his sides have conceded just once – an own goal by Uruguay team-mate Alvaro Pereira back in June.
So let’s compare Gimenez and Fonte.
Silverware:
Jose Fonte: Football League Trophy (2010)
Jose Gimenez: La Liga (2013-14), Supercopa de Espana (2014)
Experience (chronological)
Jose Fonte:
- Portuguese Third Division
- Segunda Liga (Portugal)
- Primeira Liga (Portugal)
- English Championship
- English League One
- Premier League
- UEFA European Championship
Jose Gimenez:
- Uruguayan Primera Division
- La Liga
- Copa Del Rey
- UEFA Champions League
- FIFA World Cup
- Copa America
Whilst Fonte is more traveled (as would be expected, considering he is 11 years Gimenez’s senior), the Uruguayan’s experience is of a higher level – he has played against the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Gareth Bale with some regularity whilst moving to Atletico Madrid, as well as playing alongside the likes of Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Koke.
Yes, Fonte has played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Ricardo Quaresma – but only for a month or so this summer. It’s not quite on the same level!
Of course, the best way to compare them is to watch their games – I watch as much football as I can, so i’m fairly confident in my assertion that Gimenez is the better player – but how do the stats look?
It’s fairly conclusive. Of course, stats can be deceptive and Fonte has played more games so has had more chance to slip up – but it’s clear to see how good Gimenez is nonetheless.
The last issue to tackle is price. With Fonte not being offered a new contract at Southampton, it is likely that Claude Puel will look to sell him on while he can – so the defender will be available at a cut price, but this will likely still be around the £10-15 million mark. To me, this is not worth pursuing, as the then 33-year-old Fonte will be a very short-term solution with very little later sell-on value.
Gimenez, on the other hand, will not come cheaply. Marca state that his release clause is around 65 million euros (£55.3 million). If United are willing to stump up this fee, Atletico manager Diego Simeone would not be able to deny the defender the opportunity to move to Old Trafford – and with Gimenez being just 21, I see this as a very reasonable price to pay for a more than reasonable centre-back to partner Eric Bailly for years to come.
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